Reasons He Should Never Wear A Tie
by Salmiakki Skittles
Summary: For eight years, Lukas has been hiding a secret from Emil in fear of severing their already strained brotherly-relationship. That secret happens to go by the name of Mathias.
1. Emil's POV

If I counted on my fingers the times he managed to get himself choked, I'd be a centipede. Well... Metaphorically, of course. Mathias had a tendency for upsetting Lukas, which never had ended well for either of the two, and whoever else happened to be in the room at the time.

Today was no exception to such, judging by the way he was loosening the tie from around his neck as he lay on the ground and the loud thud I had heard moments before walking into the dining room. It appeared to be happening more frequently in recent times, that I've realised. Possibly Mathias had found yet another aspect torment my brother with. From memory, I believe the first aspect had been his personality… or the floating curl. I don't quite remember honestly, it's far too long. The Dane has been around ever since I could remember, so he may have gotten bored of whatever his original reason had been. I'm quite surprised actually to how he puts up with such treatment, but more so stunned how he never ceases to say something else stupid towards Lukas a matter of hours later.

"Mathias… What were you saying this time?"

I looked down at him as he heaved heavy breaths, a pained smile forming on his lips as he caught sight of me. "Hey, Icey… W-Whatcha up to?" Alright, not the answer I was looking for, but at least his vocal chords hadn't damaged too badly. Lukas acknowledged his words with a soft grunt, not glancing away from the coffee in front of him. When living with such a person for some time, you'd eventually grow accustomed to their small gestures and the ability to read them. Hence why Tino never appeared to have a problem with Berwald's speech, they had lived together long enough. After all, he even learnt Swedish at some point.

"Planning to have some toast, if Lukas was leaving any butter this morning. There wasn't being too much left yesterday."

At the mention of his name, I felt a familiar set of eyes set on me, answering with looking back at Lukas as he nodded softly. "There is some if you are wanting it, little brother." I rolled my eyes lightly at the last two words of his sentence, he's been insistent on the two of us acting the part of the 'happy family', although naturally that had yet to happen. Despite that, Mathias seemed taken with the idea. On the odd occasion, he asks me to call him 'big bro' or 'Uncle Mathias' and similar variants of that. Thankfully though, he isn't too pushy with that.

"Thank you, I'll be back in a moment."

With that, I left the two once more, making my way towards the kitchen. For such a trivial thing, I was actually quite relieved that there had been at least a little butter left in the house. Toast always seemed to taste better when actual butter was used, not whatever alternative Berwald had sent over. Olive oil spread or something of the sort, judging by the taste, it seemed no surprise that it hadn't been touched ever since Mathias tried hiding the fact that he had used it instead of the actual spread when he offered to make us breakfast once. Yet another incident of the Dane choked with his tie. Apparently having insulted Lukas' intelligence or something of the sort, for trying to pass it off as butter. Honestly, I think he overreacts to such small things.

In fact, I felt almost sorry for Mathias at times. Well, until the point where I realise that he brings it upon himself and refuses to learn from his mistakes. Lukas is a stubborn man, not always in the best of ways. He was a difficult person to be around at times, but he isn't a bad person, he just shows compassion in odd ways. It is too bad that he's never had a partner though, that must be why Mathias' small teasing comments gets to him. I suppose I could help him find a girlfriend. It might him a little more bearable to live with. Possibly one of Ivan's sisters, they seem nice enough…

The 'pop' of the toaster distracted me from the thoughts, making my way over towards the fridge to gather the rest of the things to finish off making my breakfast. Ivan's sisters… Honestly, I could see Lukas with the younger one more so than the other. To be fair, I have not spoken all too much with Natalya, but she seems similar enough to him from what I've seen. I'll discuss it with him after breakfast. Taking my plate, I made my way back into the dining room.

"L-Lukas..?"

The sound of the plate falling was almost inaudible to me, but apparently not to Lukas and Mathias. The look of mortification couldn't have been present for more than a matter of seconds, but it certainly drew on much longer to the three of us. Before the distraction, I swear the two were… Kissing? It couldn't be, Lukas hated Mathias. Only five minutes ago he had been choking him, now he was… "Uhh... Hey, Icey." It was Mathias who broke the silence first, then again as I watched as Lukas' swift hand reached up and grasped the other's tie, causing him to loose with breath once more.


	2. Mathias's POV

"Norge, did I make your coffee alright this time?"

I tilted my head a little as I waited for his reaction after taking the first gulp, although he didn't seem to change expression. I'm pretty sure that it means that I did a good job. "Mathias, you can be calling me Lukas. You know that, don't you?" I chuckled softly as I took the seat beside him, bringing my own coffee to my lips and drinking. It certainly was much sweeter than his, almost anything would be, considering I put something like twelve spoonfuls of coffee into his one.

"Nah, I like Norge. Suits ya more than Lukas, I think."

I leaned over and pressed a quick kiss onto his cheek, grinning to myself. It was only recently that he'd actually let me do that. Sure, not when Emil was around, but it was better than nothing. I'm not too sure why he won't actually let him know though, he won't tell me for some reason. Maybe he just doesn't think he'd react well, that's all. Looking over towards me, he rolled his eyes lightly. "Lukas is fine." With that, he went back to eating his breakfast. He didn't seem to believe me when I told him that it was actually called an apple Danish, not just me 'being cocky'.

"Hey… Why won't you let Emil know about our relationsh-"

My words were cut off with a hand over the mouth, so instead I just moved it down, continuing the rest of my sentence. "Our relationship." A grunt of annoyance leaving Lukas, he grabbed hold of my tie once again before tugging down harshly, causing me to fall of the chair with a loud thud.

"OWWWW! W-Why'd ya do that?!"

I tried regaining my breath, loosening the tie which had tightening as he had pulled down. He really needs to stop that, it's not the way you should act towards somebody that you've been together with for nearly eight years… Well, together secretly with. To think that Lukas says that I can't keep a secret. "Mathias, what were you saying this time?" I looked over towards the new voice in the room, smiling the brightest I could manage in this state. After all, I've been in much worse pain before and somebody around here has to smile enough for the three of us.

"Hey, Icey… W-Whatcha up to?"

I loosened the tie further, hesitantly sitting up, ignoring the dizziness from sitting up much too soon for it's liking. It'll pass soon enough anyway, it always does. I heard a soft grunt come from Lukas, obviously he's still a little upset with me. It's not as if I had done something wrong, had I? "Planning to have some toast, if Lukas was leaving any butter this morning. There wasn't being too much left yesterday." Chuckling softly to myself, I nodded softly, although apparently Emil hadn't noticed as he was now looking over to his brother. "There is some if you are wanting it, little brother."

Little brother… That reminded me of the time when Lukas had come to me asking for some advice what to do. He knew the result of the DNA tests before Iceland did himself, I guess that's why he had seemed so insistent on collecting the mail for us that entire month. He was confused as anything, I could tell by his eyes. He wasn't sure how he should act towards Emil when he found out, he didn't want to just act as if nothing had happened when he had finally found out that he had family of his own. Apparently the five wasn't close enough, he truly wanted a brother but he didn't know how to act. Personally, I thought having the two at least call each other 'little brother' and 'big brother' was a brilliant idea. That way they would've warmed up to the idea and begun getting closer or at least that's what I expected. Well, it worked for Lukas at least.

Emil nodded in reply to Lukas, heading out towards the kitchen. "Thank you, I'll be back in a moment." As he left, I stood up from the ground, rubbing the back of my head gently as I took my seat beside Lukas once again.

"You could just say something like 'he's coming' next time?"

I looked over at him with a bit of a half-hearted smile, just to show that I was joking that's all. He didn't seem to answer or even acknowledge me though, just focusing his gaze onto the coffee mug instead. He really could be stubborn at times. Doesn't make me love him any less though.

"Norg-... Lukas, why don't you want him to know?"

He stayed silent for a moment, closing his eyes. Damn… He figured out how I read his emotions. I waited patiently as he sighed softly, tracing his index finger along the handle of the coffee mug. "I am not wanting to ruin what we have. If he knew, he'd leave us be. I don't want my brother and I to become strangers…" His voice was soft, not even pretending to be angry at me for bringing up the question again.

"Hey, I can keep this up if that's what you want. It isn't too hard… We've been doing this for eight years since we got back together, after all."

I smiled reassuringly, rubbing my hand against his shoulder then leaning over to kiss him on the cheek again. He at least opened his eyes this time, the hint of a smile teasing the edges of his lips. "You really are too simple-minded and childish, Dane..." The silence after that was comfortable enough, Lukas seemed to be in a much happier mood, that twinkle returned back to his eyes. My own smile grew wider as I took his hand into my own, in return Lukas leaning over and gently pressing his lips against my own. Until we both heard the falling of a plate, along with a familiar voice...

"L-Lukas..?"


	3. Emil's POV (Part Two)

Our eyes seemed to be locked in an awkward exchange, neither Mathias or I seemed to be able to turn away from one another. It was only after a sharp tug of the Dane's tie that had jerked his head downwards with the material. He never seemed to sound nervous, always being so confident with himself.

Tearing my thoughts away, I knelt down in a swift motion to pick up the plate and toast off of the floor. It was a reasonable enough excuse to look away. "A-Apologies..." I muttered softly as I stood again, quickly turning heel and making my way back towards the kitchen. A hand on my shoulder stopped me in my tracks, feeling it press down firmly as if it were a warning. "What is it, Lukas?" I hadn't needed to turn around to know who it had been. Nonetheless, I still turned to meet his eyes. They had looked apologetic in a way, almost as if he was ashamed by what had just happened. "Please forgive me." His words had caused me to freeze once again. Why was he asking for forgiveness? Unsure how to answer, I simply nodded softly. Not much of a response, I must admit, but at this point, words wouldn't have had been any better.

Out of the corner of my eye, I should see Mathias adjusting his tie and looking around before hesitantly standing up and leaving the room. Now it was just Lukas and I, all chance of a distraction had disappeared now. Our exchange of uncomfortable looks continued a moment longer in uninterrupted silence, each of us waiting for the other to break it. Normally I could handle the looks, but it was simply intimidating more than anything else at the moment. He was almost daring me to speak before him. "It's not being my business. Why would it be affecting me?" I finally spoke, hoping my answer would satisfy him. Judging by his eyes though, it hadn't.

One thing I had learnt with Lukas, you shouldn't watch his expression, but his eyes instead. It was the clearest give-away with his emotions. He had prided himself on not letting raw emotions control his level-headedness, or rather what he thought of himself. Only Berwald, Tino and I seemed to be able to distinguish his emotions from one another. Mathias simply seemed oblivious to it all.

"Because you are my little brother, and I know that it is affecting you." Lukas' voice had been soft, but stern as per-usual. The violet eyes had dulled, showing his real concern. "No, it isn't." I assured him, taking his hand off of my shoulder. "Stop pretending, Emil. I can tell you are lying." He replied flatly, the brief swell of emotion causing me to cross my arms in response. "You are being your own person, as am I. Your choices are not affecting me!"

His whole composure had dropped upon hearing my words. My stupid mouth had screwed up the situation even more than before. "You're right. My choices aren't having anything to do with you." He turned away, slowly walking out of the room and leaving me standing in the doorway with a dumbfound expression. "… But I wasn't meaning Mathias was being a choice..." I muttered softly, a small part of me begging internally that Lukas would've heard me.

* * *

**A/N: Not a long chapter, I'm afraid, but it will continue further in later chapters. The story will continue by the inter-changing point of views of Emil and Mathias. I rather like the dynamic it creates~!**


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